As evidenced by his embarrassing Election Night temper tantrum last fall, Karl Rove is not one to concede easily. Not when it comes to presidential elections; caloric restrictions, we guess; and completely speculative political runs by Hollywood figures. Proving the latter point, the Republican strategist’s American Crossroads Super PAC unveiled a digital ad against Ashley Judd on Wednesday. It has previously been reported that Judd is considering a senatorial run against Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, the considerably less photogenic Senate minority leader who was voted the nation’s least popular senator late last year.

Showing sheets of paper hanging from a tree, some of which double as apparent television monitors (symbolism?), the ad suggests that Judd is a radical Hollywood liberal and gorgeous Obama supporter who, damningly(?), has called Tennessee her home. In turn, Judd has issued a classy response to the preemptive mud-sling: “Ashley thanks Senator McConnell, Karl Rove, and their negative allies for all the attention as she considers her future political plans, although a decision hasn’t been made yet.”

Regardless of the fact that Judd is still in the contemplation phase of her potential political career, Rove continued his offensive on Thursday night during a segment on Fox News—the cable network that allegedly banned him for approximately 30 days in 2012.

“[S]he’s not going to be able to wait until the screenwriters from California and producers make her look good and prepare the ads and give her lots of lines to memorize so that she can handle these things,” Rove fired at Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly. The weirdly aggressive verbal attack suggested that he had been personally stood up by the actress at a middle-school mixer and forced to socialize with senatorial leper McConnell. “We’re going to make her start saying where she’s coming from.” (Blogger’s note: California. McConnell was born in Alabama.) Lest you think the embarrassing smear campaign will stop anytime soon, Rove continued, “We don’t want to have happen in Kentucky what happened in Minnesota where Al Franken knew, ‘I need to have a short campaign. I don’t want people to pay a lot of attention to me.’” Later, Rove clarified the intent of his campaign: “We are making fun of her.”

So why the long-term campaign so soon? We’ve considered three possible motives: 1) Rove considers the likeable Judd threatening enough to warrant a preemptive attack. 2) Ever since a cable viewing of Kiss the Girls while sick after Romney’s November defeat, Rove has negatively associated the doe-eyed actress with flu symptoms and loss. Or 3) After learning that Judd is back on the market, Rove launched his sophisticated version of elementary-school flirtation—a smear campaign, that if she were able to read correctly, would make her realize that Rove is really the Hugh Jackman to her Ashley Judd in a real-lifeSomeone Like You. If all goes correctly, this campaign could end with Rove and Judd embracing next to a taxi while Van Morrison plays in the background.